Wolfpack Turns Up Defense in Second Half, Pulls Away from Campbell to Win

RALEIGH, NC – The NC State men’s basketball team broke open a close game with a 26-8 run to open the second half to win going away, 69-50, over Campbell Saturday evening inside PNC Arena.

Playing its second game in less than 48 hours, the Pack’s undermanned squad came out sluggish against the Fighting Camels, trailing by as many as seven points in the first half before clamping down late in the period to take a two-point lead into the break.

The Pack came out of the locker room a different team, outscoring Campbell 26-8 to open up a 20-point lead and the Camels would never get closer than 14 points the rest of the game.

NC State held Campbell without a field goal for over eight minutes in the second half, allowing the Pack to go from a 4 point lead to 20 point lead during that stretch.

Junior forward Jericole Hellems led the Pack with 19 points and added seven rebounds and a team-best five assists. It’s the first time in Hellems career he has led the Pack in assists.

Devon Daniels added 12 points, a team-best eight rebounds and a season-high four steals.

Manny Bates was the third player in double figures with 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks. The two blocks give him 101 for his career. He got to 100 blocks in fewer games than any player in NC State history and since the 1985-86 season, the only ACC players to get to 100 career blocks faster than Bates are Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan and Georgia Tech’s Alvin Jones.

Campbell was led by Gediminas Mokseckas and Cedric Henderson who both scored 10 points. After shooting 47.8% in the first half, NC State held the Camels to just 33.3% in the second half.

The Pack returns to action Tuesday night at 9 p.m. when it hosts North Carolina inside PNC Arena. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.